A Better Day

I got to keep Sadie and Allie overnight this weekend.   The activity that was up first,

Picking flowers.

Sadie ended up with a huge bouquet.

She needed three vases to arrange them all.

Allie, on the other hand, was satisfied with a more manageable number. 

Then it was to the craft room.  Allie glued gems onto a heart.

And Sadie sewed sequin on to hers.

Then it was time to feed the dogs.  Allie was even brave enough to pet Maggie this time.  

Getting ready for church Sunday morning required painting finger and toenails. Sadie chose teal and sparkly pink.

Allie picked red and teal.

Then instead of picking more flowers like Sadie wanted to, I suggested taking pictures on them.  I really like this one of the cone flowers that Sadie took.

Allie got a good one of the gravel.  It sort of looks like an evil smiley face.

Because it was so hot and we don’t have air conditioning, I set up the pool for them on the deck.  This was great fun until nap time for Allie.  Sadie got to watch Unicorn Academy. Virginia and Mike came over for dinner and then took them home.  But they did make me happy by begging to stay another night. 
 

No Good, Just Bad and Ugly

This is proving to be a particularly bad year for ticks and theileria. 

A couple of the late calves had some mild scours that ordinarily would not have been an issue.  But even with treatment one died.  Joe made an open field tackle to catch another one.

Theileria causes a severe anemia.  You can see how pale this calf’s conjunctiva is.  

Then while checking the rest of the field we saw a dead cow.

The masses of ticks have changed the behavior of the cows.  They now just stand in a stagnant pond in the sun,

even though they have access to a mile of creek frontage with plenty of shade.  

The dead cow was completely covered in ticks.

Her ears were just a solid mass of them.

There is no currently available treatment.  The one drug listed as helping to control theileria, buparvaquone, is not available in the US.  Farming has never been easy but it is getting a lot more difficult lately.
 

Beyond The Cattle Guard

 I have not had much opportunity to ride recently. But this morning I had a little spare time, so I caught a horse.

Can you the who it is? 

That’s right, the cresty neck and high rump can only be Hugo.  After some lunging so I could get a halter on him, we rode around in the barn for about 20 minutes.  There were no issues so I headed outside.

I got down to the cattle guard at the lower end of the driveway and thought, ok, it has been 8 months, I can do this.  So I went though the gate and head on down the driveway.  There were a few obstacles, a large limb across the road, the neighbors’s barking dog, then the other neighbor with 4 Rhodesian Ridgebacks.  But Hugo took it all in stride and was not phased by any of it.  Pretty amazing since it has been over 8 months since he has been out and about.

Then we got to the spot of the accident.  Even though it was Otoelene and not him, he was pretty tense and I could tell he did not want to go past the falling down barn.  So I took him over the hill where I came off Otoelene 8 months ago.  I had a very tight rein until we got back down to the road and he started to relax again. 

Then it was smooth sailing the rest of the way back to the barn.

I managed about 1 1/2 hours without any back discomfort.  I might be ready for a trail ride.  Anyone want to go?
 

The Sea Turtle Hospital

As promised, here is a little about our trip to the sea turtle hospital.  They have a volunteer lead tour every 10 minutes. 

The volunteer we had was very perky and passionate about turtles.  

She lead us through several exhibits with some hands on displays. 

Then we got to see the turtles.  There were not many current residents.  Google AI said they release about 100 rehabilitated turtles back into the wild every year.  But some of the rescues are not releasable.  This one is not able to dive.

And this one is blind. She has been here for 19 years.

Most seem to have wounds, either caused by nature, boats or fishnets and fishing line.

 It was a very interesting tour.

On The Beach Part 2

We ended up not attending any official July 4th  fireworks. 

But as it turned out we did not have to. There were plenty of amateur displays up and down the beach that were pretty spectacular. 

Sunday, after two fun nights of playing Wings, Keiran and Emily had to leave us. (Wings is a board game based on birds and their habitats, very challenging and fun)

On the subject of odd things to bring with you to the beach I am adding guitar. 

Then yesterday, I was standing in the surf trying to decide if I wanted to get all the way in and jump some waves or not.  I am finding that I have to be a little more careful with my athletic decisions since my broken back than I use to. Anyway, while contemplating the situation I saw this knife right at my feet. Now I had to decide if I could snatch it out of the water without cutting myself before a wave could impale it into my leg. I was successful and carried it back to my chair. 

My second try and getting in the water was met with more danger.  When I looked down in the surf this time there I found this tackle set stuck in the sand. Another trip back to the chair.  My third attempt to get in was successful.  I didn’t find any more hazards. 

 It is also always good to see the sea turtles nesting.  We even made a trip to the sea turtle hospital. I have always wanted to go but it never seemed to work out. But this year Linda got us tickets and we went. More on that next time.  

On The Beach - Not The Book.

Most would not understand the book reference but it was something I read in high school (not for school but enjoyment) and it has always stuck with me.

Anyway, I am at the beach!  Keiran and Emily were coming so I thought I would try to join them. Two of my sisters came too.  Sadly, Joe did not come. He felt there was too much to do on the farm to be able to get away. 

Emily and Keiran went for a walk today and said there were hardly any birds. I went later in the day and said I saw several.  These are laughing gulls and willets. 

But the surprise bird was this parrot.  I have seen someone walking a cat on the beach before (you can read about that  HERE) but this was the first person walking a bird.  We had a good conversation. Here is a link to a website they are starting about wildlife. It was a very interesting conversation, with the man and the bird.  The bird had quite the vocabulary. 

 But the bird was not the only unicorn on the beach. There was this actual unicorn. No telling what will happen tomorrow 

Ten days ago I checked the bird box and saw 4 eggs. I have taken the camera out of the box because ants had set up house keeping in it. But the birdhouse has a side panel that drops down for easy viewing. 

Then I can just hold my phone over the nest for a picture.

Sunday I checked and 3 eggs had hatched

Emily checked in on the nest yesterday and said there were four baby birds. 

Some of her past jobs entailed checking bird nests and obtaining blood samples. I said I did not need blood or any DNA testing. 

The only thing cute about the baby bird was the fuzzy feathers starting to come in on top of its head. 

 Maybe this brood will work out better than the last.